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I retired from competitive Pokémon in summer 2013. I'd stopped finding it fun, to be honest, and I really wasn't looking forward to Gen VI. Starting out in Gen V was hard enough for me, I really didn't adapt well, but things turned around for me in the end. It was fun for a while, had great success with some work, but it had to end eventually. I started pottering around in UU and NU, which was also fun, but it really was the end for me.

Then I decided to try out GSC OU, and I've really not looked back since then. It's all so much more simple than the later generations, but it still manages to throw up turns, battles, tournaments, pretty much everything just as fun as even the most modern competitive standards. It really is impressive, and I can't see myself moving on for a good while.

With that being said, I've been using this team for a good while now. It's pretty standard all-around, but still, I've not been running into many else like it lately for some reason. Synergy is actually extremely impressive here, good mix of defensive and offensive threats, while not becoming too much of either. It's a bulky offensive team, without a doubt my favourite kind, and in a tier where it thrives.

Teambuilding:

Spoiler:

A good place to start building, every team will be running some kind of Snorlax. Unmatched in GSC OU, it's doubtful that any Pokémon ever again will be as dominant in their metagame as Snorlax is here.

Coming in as primarily a Spikes user and great physical wall, Cloyster manages to reliably set up entry hazards, slow down opposing physical threats, and act as a powerful revenge killer with Explosion.

In a metagame with Fighting-type moves rarely being used, Tyranitar boasts a great typing along with stats and a movepool that makes it an exceptional phaser, and another layer of defence against opposing Snorlax.

My personal favourite lead, Raikou fills a same kind of role as Zapdos in this generation. Bulky on the Special side, great offensive typing as Electric, and able to lay down Reflect to aid the team.

Quickly replacing Suicune, Vaporeon comes in in much the same role. Less defensive bulk, but with huge amounts of HP and power, RestTalk boosting Vaporeon can steamroll through teams given the chance.

My favourite Pokémon in GSC OU, Exeggutor brings much-needed status effects to hinder the opposing team, excellent typing and bulk, as well as a second potent revenge killer for the last-minute turn-arounds.

Raikou @ Leftovers
Thunder // Roar // Reflect // Rest

For the most part, only Raikou and Zapdos are going to be seen as leads in GSC OU, and my personal preference is for the former. You're sacrificing some power and physical bulk for additional speed and special bulk, though the roles are slightly different.

Raikou's role here is simple. Act as a bulky and somewhat threatening lead, and oftentimes set up Reflect to prepare for whatever switches will need to be made afterwards. It's not a glamorous role at the beginning of battles, but it's towards the middle and ends of games where it'll really come into its own.

There aren't many more reliable phasers in GSC than Raikou, bulky where it's important, the things it'll end up phasing out being mainly special attackers - Vaporeons, Gengars, Suicunes, Jolteons - all things that stop fearing its attacks once they start boosting, baiting the opponent into boosting more and more, assuming you've made a bad move.

The loss in physical bulk compared to Zapdos is even further nullified with the inclusion of Reflect, halving the damage from physical attackers such as Marowak, Snorlax and Heracross.

The set has a rather noticeable weakness to Ground-types and Grass-types, with Exeggutor pretty high on the list of switch-ins to it. This can be solved with the addition of Hidden Power [Ice] or [Water], but Reflect always seems far too useful to get rid of.

The severity of the weakness is lessened, however, by the team's Tyranitar, able to fill in for the same role as Raikou, but with coverage against the Grass-types that wall it with the addition of Fire Blast, and Pursuit as an extra coverage move.

Cloyster @ Leftovers
Spikes // Surf // Ice Beam // Explosion

This more offensive Cloyster set is criminally underrated, in my opinion. It lacks the Rapid Spin that made it almost iconic in the OU tier - being one of only four Pokémon to be able to learn both Spikes and Rapid Spin - but the power it can bring alongside the bulk is extremely helpful in a lot of cases.

The vast majority of my teams feature Cloyster alongside either Raikou or Zapdos, they just work so well together. The typings, the stats, the roles, everything practically screams that they should be teammates, and it all comes good in battles, too. Cloyster loves having backup from teammates that know how to phase, and in this team that's provided well by two of the most reliable phasing Pokémon in the tier - Raikou and Tyranitar.

An offensive Cloyster set, while it may not manage to keep Spikes down as much as I'd like, also manages to patch up the weaknesses the team has to Ground-types and Grass-types, packing still decently powerful Surfs and Ice Beams.

Managing to switch in on most physical attackers in the tier - notably Marowak - and immediately threaten with Surfs and Spikes, it's a relatively easy to use set, but definitely effective. Without a Ghost-type on the team, however, it's likely that at some point the Spikes that it's able to lay are going to be removed, though generally Roar can help to lessen that threat drastically.

As a last resort, Cloyster is a great Pokémon to be running Explosion, and is a great weapon against any opposing Snorlax. While it might not be able to do much with Surfs, an explosion on top of Spikes damage can be pretty devastating.

Obviously, Starmie is a pretty large threat to Cloyster, being able to switch into a Surf or Ice Beam without any danger at all, but with Raikou, Tyranitar and Exeggutor on the team too, it should be fairly easily taken care of. A fairly obvious move, after all, and one that should be easy to predict.

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Curse // Lovely Kiss // Double-Edge // Rest

Snorlax is a god in GSC, plain and simple. This is where CurseLax started, and it's definitely where it works the best. Massive HP, great Special Defence, and lacking Speed, it's a perfect candidate for a Curse set - it's like the move was made for Snorlax, to be honest. Even its base stats prevent it from being 3HKOed by any unboosted Special attack, so why shouldn't it just sit there, take it and keep boosting with Curse?

Fire Blast, Earthquake and Sleep Talk are often run in the final slot instead of Lovely Kiss, but I find Lovely Kiss extremely useful, especially on a team that isn't going to be blowing open many holes for Snorlax to slot into and start boosting. If you can't get the team to make opportunities for you, then you're going to have to start making some for yourself, and that is what Lovely Kiss can do for this set.

Couple that with the fact that many of Snorlax's chief "counters" don't run Sleep Talk, it's going to be removing possible the only thing that can stop it from the opponent's team for the rest of the game - with even one boost, Snorlax can snowball, with horrifying consequences.

Like many other Snorlax sets, however, it's slowed down a fair bit by things that resist Normal-type moves - Tyranitar and Steelix immediately come to mind, both also having options to phase it out immediately - but even those it's eventually able to boost through - bar, of course, the Roar. Ghost-types are a hard counter to the set, but with Lovely Kiss they can also become bait for other members of the team to pick off.

Against more stall-oriented teams, forcing the opponent into a last-Pokémon standoff can be the way to win with Snorlax - against a Skarmory, the opponent has no way to phase and remove Snorlax's Curse buffs, and at that point, the game's effectively over.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Growth // Rest // Sleep Talk // Surf

Growth Vaporeon is a fairly terrifying beast, even with only one or two boosts. With a large HP stat, and a more than decent Special Defence, it's able to take a hit or two, and will be healing fairly large amounts of HP with Leftovers and Rest. Being a setup sweeper on the Special side, it's also immune to tactics such as Growl and Charm that can potentially neuter physical attackers.

With the ability to take hits, it also acts as a stallbreaker, able to boost multiple times through being able to Rest and Sleep Talk up. Against strong physical attackers, it may start to suffer, though Acid Armor can be added into the set over Sleep Talk to be able to boost physical defence, as well as win PP wars - Acid Armor has 61 PP, how crazy is that?

Again, only packing one move that's resisted by Grass-type Pokémon, things like Exeggutor are going to be fairly troublesome, able to switch into Vaporeon at pretty much any point, though they may not be able to do much damage with Giga Drain, which Exeggutor commonly runs. Tyranitar is able to fix this problem somewhat, however, threatening with Pursuit and Fire Blast, while still being able to tank a few hits.

While it's also threatened by Raikou and Zapdos, extremely commonly seen on most teams, and more often than not packing a Thunder, or at least a Thunderbolt, it's still able to deal with them, being able to do a lot of damage with a Surf before having to switch out - nailing them with the prediction on the switch-in is pretty vital here, but again, it's not exactly a difficult thing to predict.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Rock Slide // Roar // Pursuit // Fire Blast

Alongside Raikou, Tyranitar acts as the team's phaser with Roar, although in a more offensive role than the former Electric-type. With Snorlax, Tyranitar is able to threaten Ghost-types that try to move in and wall its non-Earthquake set, while also being able to hold its own against opposing Snorlax with a great typing, and the ability to phase.

Skarmory and the bulky Grass-types that somewhat threaten the team are also dispatched by Tyranitar with a quick Fire Blast. Ghost-types that have enough guts to stay in are the ones that have the potential to ruin the set, however - with no Crunch, Tyranitar can only rely on Pursuit to take care of Ghost-types, and replacing Pursuit with Crunch still opens Tyranitar up to the exact opposite problem.

With no Rest or Heal Bell user on the team, Tyranitar is an obvious target for Toxic, and is still dead weight while asleep. Paired with a second phaser - Raikou - lessens the team's reliance on Tyranitar, but with it still being a huge part of the team, removing many large threats, it's still going to be a risk until a Heal Bell user is introduced, or Rest is shoehorned into the set.

By far my favourite Pokémon in GSC, and I'm honestly not even sure why. Its typing's only alright, its stats aren't anything to write home about - an impressive Special Attack stat, though - so I guess it must be the moveset. Paralysis in GSC is an extremely useful status effect, and a Psychic coming off a 348 Special Attack is going to hurt most things not named Snorlax.

The difference between sets can be explained fairly simply. Hidden Power [Fire] and Giga Drain both 3HKO Tyranitar, but only Giga Drain does so while healing Exeggutor. Hidden Power's coverage here is extremely useful for the team, taking some of the Fire-type attack reliance off Tyranitar, giving the team additional coverage against things like Skarmory and Forretress. I change between the two, but with Cloyster and Vaporeon on the team, the team already has good ways to deal with Tyranitars, so Hidden Power [Fire] becoming a permanent fixture is indeed a viable option.

Both Stun Spore and Sleep Powder are great options for Exeggutor, but there's a very simple reason for choosing the former. With Snorlax already having Sweet Kiss, and arguably generally being able to use it against greater threats, Sleep Clause will probably play a part at some point in limiting options during turns. With Stun Spore, there's not going to be a problem - you can paralyse the opponent's whole team, but you can only ever put one of their Pokémon to sleep at a time.

Just like Cloyster, Exeggutor is able to take out Specially-defensive Pokémon by utilising Explosion, just a fantastic move to have, especially on Pokémon like these. Sleep Talk Pokémon tend to be drawn to Exeggutor, Electric-types in particular - Zapdos and Raikou, especially - and being able to remove them from the game with paralysis or Explosion can open Vaporeon up to a potential Growth sweep.